Website Issues with Changes & Cancellations

[1Kflyerguy]

Therefore, I like to keep the old system as long as it works; ie if it still works why fix it!! Why does HGVC and HGV continue to make changes to a reservation system that works?

It addition to brp comments, The tech world moves quickly and its possible the hardware or software used to build a system becomes obsolete and needs to replaced with a more modern system to remain secure and reliable.

I have no idea if that's the case with the HGV reservation system, but I know that happens with systems at my work.

 

[Oliver2025]

I completely agree. Sadly, it's the nature of software development these days. We know that HGVC is switching over to a new system. Being in the software industry and being a part of these kinds of things in the past, it is common to have things "break" during a changeover like this. Behind the scenes, they are likely very different systems and the front end that you use works with both, at least partially. Making the necessary modifications for changing reservations could just be scheduled for a future update. Back to your mechanic's analogy - It's like you got your car back and it doesn't go into reverse and the mechanic says "come back in 6 months, we will see if it's ready to be fixed then"


Ok first of all, I'm the same way. I hate updates and put them off as long as possible. After a major version release, I try to wait at least one or two "dot" updates before I install the new version. The "dot" releases are usually fixes for big issues that they caused in the major update. As for why they released reservation changes broken, I'm guessing it's simply to do phased updates. They are converting over to a new system and they are working on what they consider the most important pieces first. They likely don't consider reservation changes important. What they will do is fix anything financial first. That's always the top priority. Quite honestly, what likely is happening is HGVC "went live" with what they consider "minimal required functionality", or slightly more. Likely it's a low percentage of reservations that get changed (according to their data), so changes are a lower priority and will be added back in later during the conversion. The reservation site is a toddler right now. It's still growing. Before they started this conversion, it was more like a 20-something year old. Generally pretty solid but you still had to shake your head at time.

There is a chance though, that this is the start of eliminating the ability to change reservations.

Anything sales gets priority. They expect people can call regarding changeable issues so no problem for them.

 

[Oliver2025]

I completely agree. Sadly, it's the nature of software development these days. We know that HGVC is switching over to a new system. Being in the software industry and being a part of these kinds of things in the past, it is common to have things "break" during a changeover like this. Behind the scenes, they are likely very different systems and the front end that you use works with both, at least partially. Making the necessary modifications for changing reservations could just be scheduled for a future update. Back to your mechanic's analogy - It's like you got your car back and it doesn't go into reverse and the mechanic says "come back in 6 months, we will see if it's ready to be fixed then"


Ok first of all, I'm the same way. I hate updates and put them off as long as possible. After a major version release, I try to wait at least one or two "dot" updates before I install the new version. The "dot" releases are usually fixes for big issues that they caused in the major update. As for why they released reservation changes broken, I'm guessing it's simply to do phased updates. They are converting over to a new system and they are working on what they consider the most important pieces first. They likely don't consider reservation changes important. What they will do is fix anything financial first. That's always the top priority. Quite honestly, what likely is happening is HGVC "went live" with what they consider "minimal required functionality", or slightly more. Likely it's a low percentage of reservations that get changed (according to their data), so changes are a lower priority and will be added back in later during the conversion. The reservation site is a toddler right now. It's still growing. Before they started this conversion, it was more like a 20-something year old. Generally pretty solid but you still had to shake your head at time.

There is a chance though, that this is the start of eliminating the ability to change reservations.

Max get reservations free there is no reason for changes so changeable could be at risk.

 

[Oliver2025]

It addition to brp comments, The tech world moves quickly and its possible the hardware or software used to build a system becomes obsolete and needs to replaced with a more modern system to remain secure and reliable.

I have no idea if that's the case with the HGV reservation system, but I know that happens with systems at my work.

Yes Voice and what’s underneath clarity (the same as Voice) called RCC is obsolete. I really can’t believe they stuck with Clarity. Smh

 

[Tamaradarann]

I completely agree. Sadly, it's the nature of software development these days. We know that HGVC is switching over to a new system. Being in the software industry and being a part of these kinds of things in the past, it is common to have things "break" during a changeover like this. Behind the scenes, they are likely very different systems and the front end that you use works with both, at least partially. Making the necessary modifications for changing reservations could just be scheduled for a future update. Back to your mechanic's analogy - It's like you got your car back and it doesn't go into reverse and the mechanic says "come back in 6 months, we will see if it's ready to be fixed then"


Ok first of all, I'm the same way. I hate updates and put them off as long as possible. After a major version release, I try to wait at least one or two "dot" updates before I install the new version. The "dot" releases are usually fixes for big issues that they caused in the major update. As for why they released reservation changes broken, I'm guessing it's simply to do phased updates. They are converting over to a new system and they are working on what they consider the most important pieces first. They likely don't consider reservation changes important. What they will do is fix anything financial first. That's always the top priority. Quite honestly, what likely is happening is HGVC "went live" with what they consider "minimal required functionality", or slightly more. Likely it's a low percentage of reservations that get changed (according to their data), so changes are a lower priority and will be added back in later during the conversion. The reservation site is a toddler right now. It's still growing. Before they started this conversion, it was more like a 20-something year old. Generally pretty solid but you still had to shake your head at time.

There is a chance though, that this is the start of eliminating the ability to change reservations.

As I mentioned in previous posts HGVC has been doing this since we were members back in 2006; when they change a reservation system the change of reservation portion never works. I guess for them it is not a priority; they are not a customer/member who is trying to change a reservation!! Also since we have already bought timeshare units we are in a captured customer in a position that makes it difficult to just go to another system like going to another store to buy meat, fruit, or a car. We are a captured customer unless we sell our timeshare, which is difficult to do or do with financial success. We love the HGVC system and have stayed for over 1000 nights in HGVC timeshares, however, our love and loyalty certainly gets strained when they disregard what we want to do with our points. I don't think they are changing the ability to change reservations even though they have implemented the inability to change reservations within 60 days of checkin.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Max get reservations free there is no reason for changes so changeable could be at risk.

I don't know much about max but in HGVC a number of members WALK reservations to get longer stays a the same resort in the same unit. To walk a reservation you need to be able to book a 3 day reservation and then extend it one day at a time by changing it. I did it sucessfully from 2009 to 2020 to be able to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for the entire winter.

 

[Tamaradarann]

In this case because they are trying to integrate two completely different systems. No way to avoid making changes in this particular case.

Cheers.

Are they going to make the 2 systems have the same reservation inventory and rules?

It addition to brp comments, The tech world moves quickly and its possible the hardware or software used to build a system becomes obsolete and needs to replaced with a more modern system to remain secure and reliable.

I have no idea if that's the case with the HGV reservation system, but I know that happens with systems at my work.

That is an interesting thought and perhaps that is the explanation the IT company that is maintaining their website gets HGVC or HGV to change the reservation system. A related story:

When we had a flood in our Condo Apartment the company that came in to clean up the water and restore the apartment gave us estimates which were submitted to the insurance company for cutting and restoring all the sheetrock walls and ripping up the ceramic tile in the kitchen, dining room, and hallways that they insisted needed to be done. We didn't do it and 5 years later they both look great. What we wanted was to cut some walls in the bathrooms and kitchen and replace the cabinets that were 50 years old which is what we did. The insurance settlement paid for all the work that WE WANTED DONE. It wouldn't have been finacially possible if we did what the restoration company recommended.

 

[brp]

Are they going to make the 2 systems have the same reservation inventory and rules?

I have no idea, but I doubt it. Even before this, the HGVC and bHC properties had different rules. So no reason to make everything the same. And I'm not sure what you mean by same "reservation inventory" since each place has its own inventory.

Cheers.

 

[GT75]

Are they going to make the 2 systems have the same reservation inventory and rules?

That would be impossible because each HGV TS system (HGVC, HVC, Embarc, BG and bHC) has its own set of rules.

 

[Tamaradarann]

I have no idea, but I doubt it. Even before this, the HGVC and bHC properties had different rules. So no reason to make everything the same. And I'm not sure what you mean by same "reservation inventory" since each place has its own inventory.

Cheers.

I was responding to your defense below of HGVC and HGV changing the reservation system. I don't know how they are integrating them but if the inventory and inventory booking is remaining the same it seems like the change could have been external to the actual functioning system and they didn't need to mess with the ability to change reservations.

"In this case because they are trying to integrate two completely different systems. No way to avoid making changes in this particular case."

 

[1Kflyerguy]

I was responding to your defense below of HGVC and HGV changing the reservation system. I don't know how they are integrating them but if the inventory and inventory booking is remaining the same it seems like the change could have been external to the actual functioning system and they didn't need to mess with the ability to change reservations.

"In this case because they are trying to integrate two completely different systems. No way to avoid making changes in this particular case."

I think it will be more efficient to have single reservation, with different rules based on the resort / ownership status. While I only own with HGVC, I am sure there are many people with ownership in the multiple parts. Not to mention if some the systems are built on older legacy systems no longer receiving patches and updates from the developer they need to keep up.

Its bad business to keep running hardware and software with known vulnerabilities.

 

[cd5]

If walking is a kind of "loophole" in the HGVC system, I doubt it would be a priority to enable it in a new website or am I wrong?

 

[ljmiii]

If walking is a kind of "loophole" in the HGVC system, I doubt it would be a priority to enable it in a new website or am I wrong?

The ability to modify reservations without charge is built into the HGVC system. That this allows for walking and not just changing the reservation to other locations and/or dates is a side benefit.

 

[GT75]

If walking is a kind of "loophole" in the HGVC system, I doubt it would be a priority to enable it in a new website or am I wrong?

The HGVC rules allow club reservations to be changed. The change feature is not working. "Walking a reservation" is just a term (this is a made-up term that we use here on TUG for that activity) that we use for a certain case using the change reservation feature. We can not even change a reservation to drop a few days. Now that is a significant problem because the reservation must be cancelled and rebooked. When a reservation is cancelled and rebooked (just to drop a few days), there is a possibility to lose the reservation. This has happened to me recently.

 

[cd5]

The HGVC rules allow club reservations to be changed. The change feature is not working. "Walking a reservation" is just a term (this is a made-up term that we use here on TUG for that activity) that we use for a certain case using the change reservation feature. We can not even change a reservation to drop a few days. Now that is a significant problem because the reservation must be cancelled and rebooked. When a reservation is cancelled and rebooked (just to drop a few days), there is a possibility to lose the reservation. This has happened to me recently.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[dayooper]

Thanks for the explanation.

To go even further, if you don’t have free booking fees (Max, bHC or Legacy elite status), you would have to pay the booking fee each time you cancel and rebook.

 

[brp]

I was responding to your defense below of HGVC and HGV changing the reservation system. I don't know how they are integrating them but if the inventory and inventory booking is remaining the same it seems like the change could have been external to the actual functioning system and they didn't need to mess with the ability to change reservations.

"In this case because they are trying to integrate two completely different systems. No way to avoid making changes in this particular case."

Yeah, from a software integration standpoint, that's really not going to work. Better to have a single system and work in the different rules. Inventory will stay the same as it is now since that is based on the number of physical rooms. There would be no way, ad far as I know, to change inventory, no matter what they do with the system integration.

And it was not a defense, per se, simply a statement of how software development typically works in cases like this.

Cheers.

 

[cd5]

To go even further, if you don’t have free booking fees (Max, bHC or Legacy elite status), you would have to pay the booking fee each time you cancel and rebook.

Trying to wrap my head around it as it's very different from our clubs. We only pay to cancel ($25), not to book.

 

[HuskerATL]

Trying to wrap my head around it as it's very different from our clubs. We only pay to cancel ($25), not to book.

We pay to book, see the chart but nothing to change or cancel a reservation. We can pay for point protection though

HGVC Legacy Owners:

HGVClub with HGV Max owners:

 

[mitzi]

Unless they fix this, this means that online walking is effectively dead in limited availability cases. Basically, it will work in the cases where it isn't necessary.

Cheers.

Had that situation recently. I booked two of the rooms I wanted (luckily early in year, so had plenty of points), and would cancel one and rebook immediately - and then again with the second room. Luckily they fixed the lag between cancelling and availability, so it did work out for me. I'm not sure messing around with two rooms helped cut the (small) risk, but figured it couldn't hurt.

 

[HuskerATL]

Had that situation recently. I booked two of the rooms I wanted (luckily early in year, so had plenty of points), and would cancel one and rebook immediately - and then again with the second room. Luckily they fixed the lag between cancelling and availability, so it did work out for me. I'm not sure messing around with two rooms helped cut the (small) risk, but figured it couldn't hurt.

I have done that also myself...cancel and rebook but also have called CS...probably less risk with them but still a slight risk...

 

[Cyberc]

According to the club website, bookings, modifications and cancellations are not available at Flamingo and Paradise starting noon at July 21st.

Just checked Paradise and all availability is gone.

Guess they are next to be migrated - wonder how long that is going to take?

 

[HuskerATL]

According to the club website, bookings, modifications and cancellations are not available at Flamingo and Paradise starting noon at July 21st.

Just checked Paradise and all availability is gone.

Guess they are next to be migrated - wonder how long that is going to take?

Sounds like it.... Now the fun begins there....ugh

 

[GT75]

I wish that we knew which HGVC resort's inventory has been upgraded to the new system.

 

[HuskerATL]

I wish that we knew which HGVC resort's inventory has been upgraded to the new system.

I guess that we can test each property, if you can modify a reservation, then it probably hasn't